And if Princess Anne looked twice, it's probably because she recognised that Paul Costelloe signature of a giant bow on the back.

The princess's daughter, Zara Phillips, wore a Paul Costelloe silver coat with giant back bow to the royal wedding two years ago.

British Olympic equestrian gold-medal winner Charlotte Dujardin collected her OBE wearing a Paul Costelloe wool-and-angora coat from his new collection.

The designer is making a comeback with a personally financed collection of coats and dresses, which launched at London Fashion Week two weeks ago.

However, next Monday will be red-letter day for the designer who, more than four decades after starting his career in Paris, rolls out his new Paul Costelloe for Arnotts collection in Henry Street, Dublin.

Arnotts commissioned a capsule collection of 25 which Costelloe describes as "a world exclusive".

He clearly intends to test the waters with his original Irish audience as he is also doing two menwear ranges, homewares and last month, he added communion dresses to his fashion CV.

After dropping out of the womenswear sector for a year, Costelloe said "diversity is the secret of fashion survival, not keeping all your eggs in one basket, that's for sure".